Born in 1992, in the Hague, Amaan’s early childhood in The Netherlands embedded him with nature, whilst his extensive travels to the rich cultural capitals of Europe helped inculcate an appreciation of art. Later living in Pakistan, he was increasingly captivated by the regions abundant history of traditional art, architecture, textiles and ceramics- and today Amaan uses these as inspiration, working as a multidisciplinary artist, whilst grounding his practice though painting. Ensuing his undergraduate program in Geography, Economics & Environment at McGill University, he completed his MFA in Studio Art from Florence in 2016, and most recently graduated with a distinction in his MA program in Visual Islamic & Traditional Art from the The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London (2018).

Amaan’s cross-cultural exposure and academic background in Geography influence his artwork as he portrays social, environmental & political issues of our time. Combining traditional South Asian patterns with figurative elements and writing, to cityscapes and landscapes in watercolour, acrylic and oil, his mixed-media pieces offer a wide variety. Fascinated by natural materials, including hand-ground pigments and handmade paper, his recent body of work draws inspiration from the rich tradition of Indo-Persian miniature painting, particularly examining architecture and incorporating it with cartography and the philosophy of sacred geometry.

Working on fabrics including silk, Amaan has been able to explore a new dimension of painting and achieve results that would have been impossible on paper or canvas. His aesthetically appealing designs seamlessly integrate traditional floral as well as abstract patterns. Having a flair for fashion design, he markets a limited-edition collection of painted fabric/silk pieces branded as: ‘Serti by Amaan K’.

Amaan has also been working with ceramic, creating both sculptural works, influenced by animal forms, as well as pottery and tiles painted to combine traditional Islamic geometric patterns and natural biomorphic designs.